Fasting for Breakthrough and Deliverance

SEASONS OF FASTING and prayer are important parts of a believer’s life, especially for those who are involved in deliverance ministry and who are seeking deliverance for themselves. Fasting leads to victory and deliverance from strongholds and brings greater levels of spiritual strength and maturity. Deliverance is from God and is part of the blessing of being in covenant with Him. It only destroys what is of the devil; it never destroys what is of the Holy Spirit. Since deliverance is a work of the Holy Spirit, it builds up the saints and edifies the church. It tears down the strongholds of the enemy, but builds up the work of God. Deliverance will strengthen you and prepare you for a greater manifestation of God’s power. Fasting brings breakthrough and deliverance. The next process after fasting is to continue to live your life from the place of freedom that you have just acquired.

One of the main keys to maintaining deliverance that is obtained after a season of fasting and prayer is by activating the spiritual gift of self-control. Fasting and prayer give you the discernment and strength you need to be vigilant in identifying and eradicating the areas of your life that were out of control. Do not go back to a lifestyle where you are easily carried away, disorderly, out of hand, rebellious, uncontrollable, ungovernable, unmanageable, unruly, or undisciplined. The Holy Spirit is your compass and magnifying glass in this area. An undisciplined lifestyle will bring you right back into bondage. There is no lasting deliverance and freedom without discipline.

The Common English Bible translates Proverbs 25:28 like this: “A person without self-control is like a breached city, one with no walls.” Cities without walls were open to invasion and attack from outside forces. A person without self-control is open for demons.

1. Thinking. Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think on these things.”

2. Appetites. Proverbs 23:2 says, “and put a knife to your throat, if you are a man given to appetite.”

3. Speaking. Proverbs 25:28 (WYC) says, “As a city open, and without compass of walls; so is a man that may not refrain his spirit in speaking. (Like a city that is open, and without any walls surrounding it, is a man who cannot refrain his own spirit from speaking.)”

4. Sexual character. First Corinthians 9:27 says, “But I bring and keep my body under subjection, lest when preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

5. Emotions. Proverbs 15:13 says, “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.”

6. Temper. Ecclesiastes 7:9 (NKJV) says, “Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.”

Here’s how you gain and maintain self-control, thereby maintain your freedom from bondage:

2. Find a group of Bible-believing people, preferably a church, and regularly meet with them for worship, study, and ministry.

5. Determine as nearly as you can which spirits have been cast out of you. Make a list for these areas Satan will try to recapture.

6. The way demons gain reentry is through a lax, undisciplined thought life. The mind is the battlefield. You must cast down imaginations, and bring every thought into the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).

7. Pray to the Father fervently, asking Him to make you alert, sober, and vigilant against wrong thoughts (1 Pet. 5:8–9).

8. The demons signal their approach to you by the fact that the old thought patterns you once had are now trying to return to you. As soon as this happens, immediately rebuke them. As quickly as possible state verbally that you refuse them.

9. You have the authority to loose the angels of the Lord to battle the demons (Heb. 1:14; Matt. 18:18). Bind the demons and loose upon them the spirits of destruction (1 Chron. 21:12), burning and judgment (Isa. 4:4), from the Lord Jesus Christ. Loose warrior angels upon the demons.

There are times when your home has been the seat of evil or perverse activity. Sometimes dark forces may have come into your home through practices or behaviors you allowed or those that may have been forced on you. Other times they could be lingering spirits from previous residents. It’s good to do some spiritual housecleaning as the Spirit of God leads you.

You may feel a strong sense of discernment and alertness in the spirit after going through personal deliverance at church or in your small group or during times of fasting and prayer. Get some anointing oil and go through your home and begin to pray scriptures and/or prayers like the ones in this book that apply to the spirits the Holy Spirit has alerted you to. If you are a new believer, I recommend that you ask a more mature believer or a deliverance minister from your church to come to your home and accompany you as you go through your home expelling and uprooting these spirits. I believe that there is strength in numbers. It may be wise, whether you are a new believer or not, to have other believers join you, especially if there have been serious problems in the home.

Some houses and apartments need to be cleaned of evil spirits. You would do well to check secondhand cars, homes, and apartments because if the former owners had Ouija boards, or other occultic paraphernalia, or were involved in serious bondage to sin, then there is every reason to suspect that evil spirits could be lingering behind.

Believers can enter the premises reading verses of Scripture aloud in unison. Pray for discernment and for God to reveal objects that need to be removed and destroyed. Look for such things as idols, incense, Buddha or other statues, hand carved objects from Africa, the Orient or other foreign countries, Ouija boards, anything connected with astrology or horoscopes, fortune telling materials, books or objects associated with witchcraft, good luck charms, books on cult religions, rock and roll records and tapes, etc. In some cases, the door lintel and window sills should be anointed with oil. Do not overlook the dark places where spirits like to hide such as closets, attics, basements, crawl spaces, cupboards, etc.¹

When you are set free through deliverance, your spirit is made alive to the things of God. Meditation keeps you from falling back into a place of darkness and oppression that cuts you off from God. Meditation maintains your position of abiding in the vine—the place of fruitfulness and life. Meditation on the Word of God is also an act of constantly keeping before you the image and character of God. This brings life to your mortal body (Rom. 8:11) and keeps you in a constant state of getting stronger and becoming more alive in Christ. By contemplating the glory of God, we go from glory to glory and faith to faith (2 Cor. 3:18). By beholding, by meditating on God’s Word, we become changed and immune to the traps of the enemy.

I will meditate also of all the Lord’s work and talk of His doings (Ps. 77:12).

I will meditate on the Lord’s precepts and contemplate His ways (Ps. 119:15).

Princes also did sit and speak against me, but I meditate on the Lord’s statutes (Ps. 119:23).

Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts (Ps. 119:78).

My eyes are awake during the night watches, so that I may meditate on the Lord’s Word (Ps. 119:148).

I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands (Ps. 143:5).

I meditate upon these things; give myself wholly to them; that my profiting may appear to all (1 Tim. 4:15).

I love the law of the Lord; it is my meditation all the day (Ps. 119:97).

The law of the Lord is my delight, and in His law I meditate day and night (Ps. 1:2).

I shall be made to understand the way of the Lord’s precepts, so I shall meditate on His wonderful works (Ps. 119:27).

I will remember the days of old and meditate on all the Lord’s works. I will muse on the work of Your hands (Ps. 143:5).

I will lift my hands up to the Lord’s commandments, which I love, and will meditate on His statutes (Ps. 119:48).

A book of remembrance will be written for me, who fears the Lord and meditates on His name (Mal. 3:16).

I will meditate on the book of the law day and night (Josh. 1:8).